ProposalToUpgrade was accepted in October 2003 after completing 20 months of a Masters Degree by Research.

What is this thing called photography? Process-based photographic arts practice in a post photographic age.

Brief Outline of Masters Proposal

The chief concern of my Masters research project was to explore the possibilities of photography as a material practice within the context of contemporary visal art/photographic practice. The intention was to produce process-deriven photographic artefacts and to review the field of artists, writers and theorists in which photography's history, materiality and contemporary condition have been the key focus. I used notions of post-photograhy as a framework that includes a grouping of theories and liturature that articulate the shifts and implications to photography as new technologies integrate with or supercede analogue media. Post-photography for the purpose of my project, draws on the theoretical framework established by David Tomas, combines a shift in focus from product to process and an ecological approach to understanding photography "which traces the networks of cultures and operational logics" through "spatial,temporal, social, and enviromental contexts".

Throughout this proposal, the goal has been to identify and renegotiate the relationship between photography and other media and to articulate and produce artefacts that document/critique this process.

The Research To Date

The Project to date has included a body of experiments and artefacts that are investigations into photography through process. The artefacts to date draw on non-representational forms of photography - including cameraless, photochemical, electro-photoraphic, abstract. The outcomes from my studio investigations are not documents of traditional a subject/event using traditional photographic means, they are derived directly from photographic process/actions. These investigations take various forms according to the set of research questions for a particular research cycle.

As a Masters Research Project these studio-based experiments have been focussed on the peculiarities of certain photographic media as a way of exploring the way we understand and respond to photography. My research has re-examined early/marginalised photographic processes, and I have created new modes/hybrid approaches to photographic practice. As the research has progressed it has become evident that this approach to photographic research is new, and opens up the potential for a significant contribution to the field, which traces photography's processes through its history and its more recent integration into other media particularly moving image and digital media.

There is very little literature and discussion relating to proces-orientated photography and few examples in contemporary art spaces or commercial galleries in Australia. There are however, practitioners who address material/process concerns nationallly and internationally.

In Australia artists such as Peter Robertson?, Justene Williams?, and Shane Fitzgerald explore photographic abstraction as a significant part of their practices. These artists use disposable cameras, optical blur and film stock as vehicles for abstraction. Adam Bunny's series Aberration 1994 is derived from the phographic process itself. His work is cameraless and is the result of chemistry and physics. Internationally, artists such as Uta Barth, Michal Rover?, David Hiscock and Robert Davies are acknowledged for their on-going investigations into photographic abstraction and process. Barthes and Rover explore the relationship between figuration and abstraction through optical blur, digital manipulation and enlargement; Hiscock and Davies abstract images are the result of process - Hiscock through customised cameras and Davies with a specially designed enlarger. Simon Cuthbert, curator of Tasmania's 1998 abstract photography exhibition F:Divergent Abstraction and the Photographic Project explains, "The voice of the abstract photograph is multi-lingual/multi-dialectical; abstraction can derive from literal or optical truths, from constructed images or the manipulation of process. It is not a singular stylistic affair. Its sources, purposes and results are multiple".

This environment provides my project with the potential for a significant contribution through the development of an inclusive discourse. A discourse that can address and integrate non-representational photography, new media, photographic history and materiality, and other hybrid practices by tracing the evolution of photography through process.

The Masters degree has allowed me to review this field and begin to explore possibilities for practices and discours that are inclusive of process-orientated photography. I have established a foundation for further investigation and it has become evident that the depth and breadth of inquiry to contribute new and significant research far outweighs the scope of a Masters Degree. Rather than settle for compromised outcomes for my research project, I believe a PhD would produce original and significant research outcomes and a well-developed research project.

Masters to PhD - How the project will evolve.

As a predominantly studio orientated research project, the core of my research will continue to focus on studio experiments and artefacts. The thrust and intention of my inquiry will remain intact. The breath and depth will be expanded to further explore and articulate links with photographic materiality and history, new media, contemporary notions of photography; and hybrid practices. Areas of studio inquiry will include: examining photographic proceses through technlogy (old and new); photography as a history of divergent practices; photographic translations into digital information - visual, mathematical, sound etc; abstraction and representation in photography. The studio compnent will comprise of a body of artefacts and a digital catalogue of all the experiments undertaken.

The text-based inquiry will also be expanded. The text-based component will be comprised of a critical explication of my project/research (exegesis); an online archive of artefacts, literature, practitioners and writers; a documented catalogue/journal of my studio research/journal.

The exegesis will be a 20,000 word digital document, presented as a series of ideas-based chapters that are linked through hypertext to the related research archive and studio research catalogue/journal. The exegesis and linked archive and catalogue will develop with the studio research and log the project's development. This approach to the text component, will offer a more transparent view of my research and process by logging the directions, thoughts, and engagement I have with the research over the course of the project.

Combining the studio and text components of the research project online creates a thesis that is more accessible, direct and cheaper than traditional modes of publication. It will create a forum for discussion and interaction. It is anticipated that this will become a valuable research tool for my project and also an online resource for: public exhibition spaces to view arts practice related to this field of inquiry; other researchers and institutions who wish to expand or draw upon the researxh presented; and curators and artists who wish to contact practitioners or create exhibitions based on the photography presented.

Methodology

I will continue to use Action Research as the methodological framework for my project. My Masters Project anticipated five cycles to complete the research. I am currently in Cycle Three of that action plan. The expansion of the project would alter the number and content of cycles. It is anticipated that 7 cycles will be required to complete the PhD research project. The research project in its entirety will consist of the following components-

Cycle 1: February 2002 - September 2002 (completed)

The outcomes from this cycle included - the completion and submission of a research proposal; the presentaton of a seminar paper for th epost-graduate forum; the presentation of artefacts for a studio critique; an exhibition at the CACSA project space; the production of artefacts; and a review of the field through liturature and artefacts.

Cycle 2: October 2002 - January 2003 (completed)

The outcomes of this cycle has an emphasis on studio -based experiments and the production of artefacts. The outcomes of this cycle included the completion of a working prototype of electrophotography device; initial experiments using the new device; the cataloguing of my experiments and artefacts onto CDROM; production of power-point presentation of studio work. Other outcomes include contact made with UK based writer Roy Exley in regards to process photography; literature and artefact review.

Cycle 3: January 2003 – August 2003 – current

Has included a series of experiments and artifacts; an exhibition of one aspect of these experiments at Adelaide Central Gallery; meetings with head of post-graduate photography RMIT, directors of ACMI, and co-ordinator of CCP; establishment of contacts and research questions for overseas travel. This cycle has also included initial inquiries into an exhibition space for presentation of studio component of research project.

Cycle 4: September 2003 – November 2003

Will continue to follow the cycle outline in the Masters proposal with minor amendments – The cycle now includes a 8 week overseas research with a set of research questions, seminars, exhibitions and meetings to attend. The outcome will be a set of complied information pertaining to current research.

Cycle 5: November 2003 – March 2004

Cycle Five will involve reflecting on my overseas research, the project to date, and the priorities for this cycle. Planning and action in this cycle encompass the development of the basis of the digital exegesis (the infrastructure); the compiling of past information onto the website; the ongoing literature and artefact reviews; continuing the studio experiments. The outcome of cycle five is the completion of the basic form of the exegesis; the compilation of prior research into digital form; artefact production and review; finalizing exhibition space for presentation of studio component of research project.

Cycle 6: April 2004 – August 2004

Cycle Six will involve reflecting on the thesis form and content, artefacts and literature from previous cycle, and addressing any concerns that have arisen. Planning and action in this cycle will include continuing to expand on the form and content of the exegesis – including the archiving of prior research and the cataloguing of artists; ongoing experiments and artefact production; and plan meetings, exhibitions, and talks to attend in Melbourne and Sydney. The outcome of this cycle will be a more comprehensive version of digital thesis and archive; itinerary for trip to Melbourne and Sydney; ongoing experiments and artefact production.

Cycle 7: September 2004 – February 2005

Cycle Seven is the final cycle of the research project and as such the focus of this cycle will be on the final outcomes of the research project. Reflection in this cycle will include a review of the exegesis and artefacts from the previous cycle as well as a review of the research project in its entirety. This process will involve a finalizing of ideas, issues and the focus of the research project. Planning and action in this cycle will include the final draft of the exegesis; the final archiving of literature, artefacts and practitioners (before submission); the refining and completion of experiments and artefact production. The outcomes of the cycle will be a cohesive and experimental body of studio-based work/artefacts; a public exhibition of studio- based work; a digital online exegesis with a complete catalogue of my studio-based experiments, reflective journal, and archive of related literature/artefacts/practitioners. The final outcome of this cycle will be the submission of my completed research project.

Ethical Issues

All aspects of my research will be conducted in an ethical manner – including the interaction with peers, supervisors and colleagues. The research methods of this project do not involve human subjects.

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